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USAHOCKEYMAGAZINE.COM DECEMBER. 2015
It Starts With A Stick Campaign Puts The Future
In The Hands Of Aspiring Hockey Players
By BRENNA PAYNE
HAVING NEVER SKATED BEFORE, Jacob Fee
had a hard time staying up on his skates when he
attended February's Try Hockey For Free. But each
time he fell, he stood up with a smile on his face.
At the end of his first session on the ice, he was
given a stick to take home. The stick was provided by
The USA Hockey Foundation, and was purchased
thanks to donations from hockey fans across America.
The inaugural "It Starts With a Stick " campaign,
held last winter, was a success as 12,000 kids took
home a stick so they could begin chasing their
hockey dreams.
"He was so excited that he wanted to turn around
and go back out on the ice," says Sarra Fee, Jacob's
mother. "Every day he asks if he gets to play hockey."
That's exactly the reaction The USA Hockey
Foundation was hoping for from the stick recipients.
"Our hope was for kids to try hockey, and then
take home a stick — something meaningful that
would connect them to the game and get them
excited. We wanted them to become hooked on
the game," says Pat Kelleher, assistant director of
development at the Foundation.
And hooked he was. Jacob signed up for hockey
camps during the off-season and he's now playing
his first season of mites with the Whatcom Warriors.
"Jacob uses anything and everything he can use as a
puck. He holds his own practice on the kitchen floor,"
says Sarra of Jacob's off-ice training.
THE DREAM
STARTS HERE
